UK Sport Releases Portion of Ring-Fenced Funding for British Basketball

UK Sport has released further ring-fenced money for British Basketball to help fund the upcoming international windows.

£110,570 has now been released to enable the GB basketball teams to compete in two senior women’s and two senior men’s games in November 2018 and February 2019, from the initial pot of £500,000 that was announced from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in May.

An initial investment of £195,000 was provided to British Basketball at the time to ensure GB athletes could compete at important World Cup qualifying games in June and July.

It leaves £194,410 in the pot; a further instalment of £102,186 will be released in November if British Basketball can demonstrate progress against the agreed conditions including a clear commercial plan, a sustainable financial forecast and demonstrating the impact GB teams can have in supporting the wider government sport strategy.

And then, the final £92,224 will remain available to the sport subject to final conditions being met and agreed with UK Sport.

“At the request of Government, UK Sport has worked to support British Basketball in finding a solution to enable GB athletes to compete,” Liz Nicholl, Chief Executive of UK Sport, said.

“It is important that British Basketball continues to work to demonstrate it can deliver on its financial, governance and inspirational impact commitments.”

Maurice Watkins CBE, Chair of British Basketball Federation, added:

“We are pleased to receive this additional funding to support GB basketball. We know that basketball changes lives and enhances communities, and we know from our partners in England, Scotland and Wales just how much basketball is growing in popularity, and what it means to people of all ages.

“This additional financial injection will help us to continue to develop the impact of our sport on people and communities across the country, while allowing our best athletes to continue competing at the highest level.

“One immediate focus is on our GB Women’s squad and their crucial game in Manchester against Greece next month as they attempt to qualify for the 2019 Women’s EuroBasket Tournament. We would encourage the basketball community to get behind the team and show their support.”

Do you like our work?

We have a tiny favour to ask. In 2018 we set out to make Hoopsfix sustainable by building our relationship directly with our readers. Up until now, Hoopsfix has been creating editorials, videos and podcasts to provide sorely missing coverage of the British game and its distinct culture and community.

We have funded Hoopsfix with our freelance work creating basketball media, but sadly that means not only does it fall behind our client’s priorities, but some of those clients are the same organisations we need to report objectively on putting us in a conflicted position.

We want to devote more time to our mission of helping British basketball reach its potential, and produce even more content for the basketball community by making Hoopsfix a sustainable 100% independent business funded directly by our readers through Patreon.

If everyone who enjoys our content chose to support us, our future would be much more secure. For as little as $3 per month, you can support Hoopsfix – and it only takes a minute.

We are tremendously honoured and humbled to have a community of people who value what we do, and we look forward to being at the forefront of the British game as it continues to evolve.

Support Hoopsfix